Toyota triples profits in 3rd quarter

TOKYO -- Toyota’s quarterly profit tripled, driven by a recovery from natural disasters, and the company raised its full-year earnings forecast Monday despite a sales slump in China.

Toyota Motor Corp., on track to regain the crown of world’s No.1 automaker this year, reported a July-September net profit of $3.2billion compared with a $1billion profit a year earlier. The result was better than the $3 billion quarterly profit forecast by analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Japan’s top automaker raised its profit forecast for the full fiscal year through March 2013 to $9.8billion from $9.5billion.

The company’s optimism comes despite a sales plunge in China, where a territorial dispute over tiny islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China has set off protests and a boycott of Japanese cars in recent months.

Executive Vice President Satoshi Ozawa said Toyota had recovered from last year’s disaster-related parts shortages and was able to boost profits despite the disadvantage of a strong yen. A strong yen erodes the value of overseas earnings of Japanese exporters such as Toyota.

“We have revised the forecast we announced at the end of the first quarter to reflect the progress we have been making,” Ozawa said.

For the fiscal second quarter, Toyota, which makes the Camry sedan, Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury models, now expects to sell 8.75million vehicles through March 2013.

But the latest projection is 50,000 vehicles fewer than the 8.8million vehicles Toyota projected in August. Toyota said the drop comes from the sales slump in China, as well as Europe.

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